Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Two New Favorite Go-To Patterns

I've been wanting to make the Elise shawl forever now. I finally made it over the weekend. I love it, love it, love it!

The best thing about this pattern is, it's Free! It took me one day to crochet it, one day to block it, and one day to photograph it. I tried to model it and got a couple of ok shots. I'm not showing the best shot of the shawl, because I look very drunk (I'm not, by the way). So here are a few shots and then I'll show you my other new go-to favorite pattern for gifts.

Now look at the before blocking...

and during blocking...

Amazing huh? I love blocking. It can be a pain to get it all ready, but it's so worth it. Yesterday, Ireland came in from daycare, walked through the door and walked right on top of the shawl. Of course, I freaked out and had a meltdown because it rained all day here and I had to get down in the floor and very delicately wipe the mud off. So needless to say, I put the shawl in the second bathroom and closed the door. It still turned out great...no visible mud. The yarn is so great. I used Happy Feet sock yarn color number 4 (about 390 yards) and a size I crochet hook.

I bet you're wondering, You sure are doing a lot of crocheting and very little job hunting. Yep, I'm thinking the exact same thing as well. But I do have exciting news concerning making money. No, I haven't found anything permanent, but... I do have a paying gig.

Right now I am under contract for one design with a yarn company. I'm really excited about that. I can't give you any details yet. I have turned down a couple contracts in the past because of insanely short deadlines (like 4 days...yeah right) but this company is awesome and gave me a generous deadline and sent me the luscious yarn to work with. Very exciting!!!

I'll share more info after all is said and done and I am given the ok from the company. Michael, my other half, said, "Now all you have to do is get 4 or 5 a month and you'll be all set." Yeah right buddy, easier said than done:)

Now here is my other new favorite go to pattern. It is not mine I found it on Ravelry. It's the Crocheted Mary Jane Slippers found here

and guess what... it's totally free as well. I made these last night after my little Irelie went to bed. They are so warm and comfie, but do not crochet these too tightly or you'll feel like you're walking on knots. Here's some pics

I changed up the last couple of rows and the edging. I also made a thinner strap for the button. So if you decide to make a pair and would like the altered version like mine, just let me know and I'll let you know how I did it.
Edit:
I received a couple messages asking how I altered the pattern.

First of all. My feet are a little narrow. If your feet are a little wide you may not want to alter the pattern. I also wear a size 8.5 (US) and found that the pattern was perfect for my feet. I don't think that the size is as adjustable as stated in the pattern. I had to crochet these a little bit loose so the stitches wouldn't be rough to walk on. I guess it's all about trial and error. My advice for someone with a smaller foot would be to crochet a little loose with a smaller hook... and if you have really small feet use a DK weight yarn.

I followed the pattern until I reached the Upper portion. On round 1, instead of working 17 sts on the toe I worked 16.

Then I left out rounds 5 and 6.

Edging
Rnd 5: I worked the edging by working a sc round (starting at the point where I wanted my strap) working all the way around back to the start (decrease in this round).

Rnd 6: Chain 24, sl st into the 6th chain from the hook (this creates the button hole) sl st in each ch and each st all the way around the slipper (no decreases in this last round).

Finish off.

So basically I left out rounds 5 and 6 and replaced the last round with a slip stitch round.

Have a great week!

Oh...I'm offering one final scarf pattern for free. So check back in a few days and I'll post it for ya:D

23 comments:

Liz, I love your Elise shawl, it is gorgeous and the colour you picked out is wonderful!!! I have had this shawl on my to do list for a long time too and now that I have seen yours, I am going to start mine. :) The slippers are very cute and I would appreciate having your alterations please. Congratulations on designing for a yarn company--how exciting for you! Pehaps this will lead to a new career for you? Here's hoping and all the best!

Hi Liz - Just found your blog and you do beautiful work! As a fellow crocheter (JJCrochet.com/Blog), I appreciate your talents. You mention in this post that you were under contract with a yarn company for a design. I was wondering if you could share more information about that process. I sell a lot of my patterns independently and have been very successful, but I'd love to work directly with yarn companies. Any advice you could offer would be great... jjcrochet(at)gmail.com Thanks! Jayna

For this project I blocked by lightly wetting the shawl, then laying it out flat on a large towel. I used pins to pull it to the desired size, pulling the stitches open. Then I let it dry. I hope this helpsLiz

Your shawl is gorgeous!I am attempting my own just now.Does yours have the picot edging?Do you add that after?The pattern says 11rows does that mean in total or 11 each, row 5 and 6?Sorry these are probably dumb questions but I so want to make a good job of this!

This is absolutely beautiful! I love it! I am very comfortable crocheting but I don't have the faintest clue about blocking. Can you give some advice on how to learn the basics of blocking? Such as what books to look at, what websites to go to...anything would help. Thanks so much!

Hi Liz, your work is just gorgeous, I was wondering did you ever think about doing tutorials? I crocheted for years but only made blankets, now I want to try other things, but I can't read the patterns. I hope everything works out with the yarn company because you sure deserve it

Hi Liz...your shawl is beautiful! I started one that I am making with Peaches and Creme worsted weight cotton in an ecru color. I would like to add fringe at the picot points! Hope it turns out! The wording on the written pattern was a little hard to understand, even though I'm a veteran crocheter. Between the graph and written instructions all is good!

I also have made several pairs of the Mary Jane slippers. I LOVE THE PATTERN. Using the Peaches and Creme cotton, I had to go with a size "e" hook or they were too large. But they have made my friends and family happy!

HiThis shawl is gorgeous. I would love to make it but I do not understand what the tc in next dc means. I would like an answer as soon as possible as I want to make it for my niece for her birthday on Easter.